Into Remnant(OLD)
by HarrowedWriter
Summary: Waking up with no memories and strange powers, a young man finds himself making new friends, fighting strange monsters, and exploring the depths of who he is. He will find himself thrust into an eons-old power struggle as he enters Into Remnant. OC x ? This is the OLD version of Into Remnant, and is not going to be continued!
1. Out of Time

_Light, colors, fluttering left and right quickly. I couldn't see straight, vague figures speaking to each other over a cacophony of noise._

"_You know this is crazy!"_

"_Their true future is-!"_

_I couldn't make out their voices that well, clawing static at my ears prevented it._

_Couldn't focus, too cold… The colors replaced with ice, covering my vision._

"_You would kill-!"_

_Their voices slowed as their forms began to dissolve._

"_Even him!"_

"_Not if-"_

_The ice covered my vision and the colors stopped, all replaced with a vague blue. _

_Couldn't see, couldn't think. Couldn't hear._

_How long did this last?_

_I couldn't tell._

"_...W…"_

_More figures, two. Replacing the old._

"_...Wa…"_

_They were talking. To who?_

"_Wake…"_

_To me? But…_

_Who even am I?_

"_Wake up…" A voice coaxed softly._

_But I didn't want to…_

"_Wake up…" It continued, the ice over my vision began to thaw._

"_Wake up."_

"Wake up!"

I jolted up, eyes flying open. I couldn't see for a moment, but as my eyes adjusted, I could tell I was in some kind of hospital.

But beyond that…

I didn't know anything.

The vague dream was leaving my mind, and I reached for my memories.

How did I get here?

Yet, nothing came.

I didn't even know my name…

What was my name?

I reached a hand to my head and rubbed my forehead, "What the hell…" I managed, my voice weak and dry from dehydration.

"I see you're awake." A calm male voice spoke to me, and I raised my head towards the source.

The man cut a tall figure, wearing a black suit and what appeared to be some kind of green neckwear, he had a cup of coffee in his hand and a scroll in his other hand.

Next to him was a woman, only an inch shorter than the man, who easily reached about 6'6'' if my eyes weren't lying to me. Although she did wear heels. She, too, has a scroll in her hands, although the other one had a clipboard in it.

"Who are…" I try to speak, but end up coughing as my voice was still completely dry.

"Now, now." The man speaks, "Glynda, can you get this young man some water?"

"Yes." She responds, before walking off, leaving me with the man.

The man walks forward and pulls a chair up, sitting across from me, "What's your name?"

"I… Don't know."

The man's eyebrow quirked in mild surprise, "Really now? Do you remember anything?"

Again, I try to think back, but it was like there was some kind of barrier, I scratched and scraped inside my mind but I couldn't bring anything to the forefront.

"No… Nothing."

"Curious." The man leans back, "Well. I am Professor Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon Academy, an Academy for Huntsmen. Do you know what I'm talking about?"

I didn't. I hadn't the slightest idea what he was talking about, or who he was supposed to be. Even if, for one reason or another, his gaze seemed oddly familiar to me…

"I...I don't."

"I see… I'll have to try and remind you, but beyond that. It seems you have a case of Amnesia."

"Amnesia…"

"Yes. You have no memories, it seems. Don't worry, though. Glynda and I will do our best to help you get them back."

As if on queue, Glynda returned with a bottle of water, which I took and opened, quickly drinking it. The water was refreshing, washing down my throat and clearing my voice.

Glynda spoke to Ozpin, "So, what did you learn?"

"He doesn't remember anything."

"That's… _Fantastic._" The sarcasm leaking off her voice was very evident, even to me.

"Well." Ozpin notes, his professional tone never wavering, "It certainly complicates things for us."

"Where do we go from here?"

"First. How about we give him an abridged history of… Everything?" Ozpin suggests, "He needs to know what he's getting into before I can plan ahead."

"I'd love to help, sir, but you know I need to welcome the new students soon. I don't think I have time for it." Glynda frowns, "Should we just let him rest here until after the new students have been brought in? We're not in any rush."

"See, Glynda. I think this young man would be a fine addition to our school."

The tall blonde looked taken aback, "Really, Ozpin? Sure, he looks about the age, but he doesn't remember anything! First Ms. Rose, now-"

"Glynda." Ozpin interrupted. His voice had a soft but stern tone to it, "Trust me on this."

Glynda stared at him for a solid few seconds, before sighing and deflating a bit, "Alright, sir. I apologize for my tone."

"Don't worry about it Glynda. Now, you should go and greet the new students. I'll speak to our Amnesiac."

With that, she nodded and left. Leaving me with the man sitting next to me.

"Now." Ozpin starts to stand, "I'm going to go get you some clothes to wear. Then, I'll take you to my office, where I'll try to inform you as best I can about our world… And maybe we'll find out your name, or at least, maybe we'll give you one. Sound okay?"

I ran a hand through my hair and laid back, "...On one condition."

"What is it?"

"...Can I have a mirror?"

"Of course."

Ozpin walked off briefly, returning with a mirror, which he handed to me, "Now, I'll be back."

I turned my attention to the hand-mirror as his footsteps started away from me, and I soon heard a door close, indicating that I was alone.

My skin was bronzed, I couldn't tell if I spent a lot of time out in the sun or if I simply was born that way, but there it was. My hair, meanwhile, was medium length and black. It covered my ears and fell just above my eyebrows, I was laying down, so I couldn't make out anything about the back of my head, but my hair seemed to at least cover the nape of my neck.

My eyes, meanwhile, were a light brown and stared back at me with a look of curiosity, and they sat over my somewhat flat nose. Overall, my face was somewhat of an oval shape, and I wasn't sure if I could be considered good looking or not… Not that it really mattered. Who was I going to impress? The vague empty space in my head where my memories used to be?

Or Glynda. But I think she was just a _little bit_ too old for me.

Wait… How old am I?

That would need figuring out.

I lifted up the blanket covering me on the medical bed and noted that I was just wearing a blue-ish medical dress that covered the length of my body, which was thin and somewhat toned from what I could tell.

With a self-appraisal finished, I took the time to scan the room I was in.

There were several beds in a row with mine, all empty, and there were several IV stands next to them. Definitely a hospital, or at least a medical bay.

There were curtains, all pulled back next to each bed. For privacy I guess, but with no one here, they were all open, giving me a clear view of a door at the end of the room, a frosted window on it with black print spelling out something I couldn't read. It was backwards from inside.

As I was trying to make out the words, Ozpin came through the door, carrying a folded set of clothes, which he sat at the foot of my bed, "This is the school uniform. Apologies, but it's the best I could do on such short notice. You'll need to go and get more clothes yourself, but that's in the future. I'll afford you the privacy to change, just call me when you're finished."

As my mind grew more coherent, I began to question just why Ozpin was so eager to get me into his school. I didn't know the first thing about it, or him, or anything really, but I would assume someone with no memories would be the very last person I'd want in my establishment…

"Professor Ozpin. Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course." Ozpin stopped and turned towards me, I had caught him in the middle of leaving.

"Why are you so sure I'd be good for your school? I don't even know my name. I doubt I'd be very good at being this… What, a Huntsman, you said?"

Ozpin stared at me for a moment, he looked as if he wanted to say something for a moment, but he stopped himself and shook his head, "Don't worry too much about it young man. Trust me, I know best."

I didn't know if I could really believe that, but did I have much of a choice?

"...If you say so, thank you."

With a nod, he turned and walked out, leaving me to change.

…

..

After I slipped into the uniform and buttoned up the jacket, I had to wonder just how Ozpin knew exactly what my size was.

Maybe they just had uniform sizes for people of different heights or something? Not that I knew.

Once I called him back in, he simply opened the door and beckoned me to follow, and so, for the first time, I walked out of the medical ward and into the hallway.

This was, for sure, not a hospital. It looked too nice and uniform.

"We're… At Beacon, right?"

"Indeed, you're rather perceptive for someone in your circumstance."

...Yeah, I was. Weird.

We started to walk down the hall, and Ozpin started to speak.

"Allow me to give you a brief overview of the world, and what you need to know. Then, I'll need to test some theories, to get an idea for your abilities."

"...Alright."

And so he did.

Ozpin told me the name of the world, Remnant, he told me briefly about the Kingdoms, and the one we live in, Vale, in particular. He spoke as we walked through the halls and up flights of stairs about the Grimm, the enemies of humanity. He didn't seem too interested in telling me the exact history of the world, not that I was complaining, but he did his best to get me up to speed with the essentials.

We soon arrived at the top, and I was amazed at how Ozpin managed to not be out of breath from walking that many flights of stairs, and as we headed through the double doors into his office, he spoke, "So. You know of our fight, and of the kingdoms. Now, I will tell you about Aura, and Semblances, to test my theories with you."

We walked over to his large oak desk and he sat behind it, beckoning me to sit in one of the chairs in front of it, and I did so.

"Every living being with a soul has Aura, and thankfully for us it seems your Aura has already been activated. That saves us the trouble of needing to unlock it. Yours is rather strong, which is always good, but it's important not to rely on it."

He continued to explain what Aura was. A projection of our souls, that every being except Grimm had some kind of Aura, and how we could project it out to act as a shield against harm, and that it was a Huntsman's greatest tool.

Finally, he went on to Semblances, "I won't take too long on them, as we are running somewhat short on time, but a Semblance is the ultimate projection of who you are. Your semblance is partially shaped by who you are as a person, and is completely unique to you. In time, I'm sure you'll learn what yours is. But for now, I would like to test something with you."

"What is i-"

Suddenly, faster than I could possibly detect, Ozpin stood up and brandished his cane like a sword, he swung it at me and I reflexively went to throw up my hands to shield my face against the oncoming blow.

But the blow never came.

I had winced back at the strike, but as I slowly opened my eyes, I saw a white barrier projecting from my hands. Ozpin's weapon was completely stopped, like it had struck against a brick wall for all the good it did him to swing at me.

"W-What the hell?" I respond in shock, and the barrier disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared, leaving Ozpin's cane to sail towards my face, only to stop a few inches from my hands.

As he moved the staff away from me, I saw a smile come across his face. He looked genuinely happy, or at least pleased.

"So. It seems my theory was correct."

"W...Was that my semblance?"

"No, it was something much more powerful."

"Eh?"

"Magic."

"Magic? But didn't you say-"

"Indeed." Ozpin sat back down, "Magic vanished from this world thousands of years ago. Except for you, it seems."

"Why me?"

"...I have my theories, but for now, we will simply have to accept that it is what it is, and move forward."

Something in his tone led me to believe he knew more than he let on, a lot more, but I couldn't bring myself to confront him. This was all confusing, and honestly overloading my brain.

"W-Well, what do I do?"

"I need you to trust me, and do as I ask. I can guide you, young man, but it will need to be done very carefully. Okay?"

"...I don't really have much of a choice, Professor."

"Indeed."

He stands up, and walks towards a corner of the room, then I saw him kneel down and produce an elongated wooden box, that he promptly opened and produced something out of.

Standing, turning, and walking towards me, I saw that he was holding a staff.

It was a beautiful one, too. The bottom covered in steel, and an ivory pattern crawling its way up the beautiful dark-brown wood, all the way to the top, where a large green gem sat at the top.

"I want you to have this. It will act as your weapon, and your means of focusing your magical power more concisely."

"...Why do you have this?"

"I'll leave it to your imagination. Some day, I'll explain everything to you. But for now, know that I have the capacity to train you, and I will. To that effect, you will be a student at my school, and you will try to have as normal a life as possible… Aside from the fact that you and I will need to spend a lot of time preparing you."

"Preparing me for…?"

"The future, of course. It's always uncertain."

He held the staff out to me, and I carefully reached out and took it, before going to stand.

It was tall, not as tall as me, but it easily went up to my torso. "So… What now?"

"I would love to test your abilities, but that simply isn't possible right now. I need to go greet the assembled students, and you need to go down and… Mingle, I suppose."

"Wait-" I state as he goes to walk out.

"Hmm?"

"I… I don't have a name."

Ozpin blinked, before facepalming, "...I knew we were forgetting something. Apologies. Hmm…"

He looked around the room, before his eyes settled on something on his bookshelf, "...How about we call you Noire for now? Noire Vienna, for a full name."

Noire… Sounded nice, but also a bit strange. "I guess I'll take it. It's not bad."

"Good, good. Now, let's get down, shall we?"

As we were leaving, I glanced back at what he was looking at earlier, and caught a glimpse of a man in a trench coat smoking a cigarette.

...Weird.

…..

…

Ozpin separate from me once we got to a fork in the stairs, he said he had to get ready to give orientation. I didn't bother to ask him what this Orientation was, given that they'd been talking about new students all day.

I, in the meantime, was left on my own to find my way down to where the other students were supposed to be in this massive, sprawling building of this massive, sprawling academy.

Eventually I found my way down, and rounded a corner leading to what I presumed to be the auditorium, when I ended up bumping into someone.

"Oh, sorry!" A female voice apologized quickly, immediately of note was a strange accent I couldn't place the origin of, "I wasn't really paying attention!"

"It's fine!" I quickly say, trying to wave it off and get a look at my assailant at the same time.

She was a tanned girl, her skin almost a light brown, and her hair was red highlighted by yellow highlights, held up in a ponytail which kind of obscured its real length. Her eyes were a dark blue, currently shimmering with feelings of concern. She wore a khaki colored tunic that extended down to her knees, mired with the occasional white wrapping. Her short sleeves revealed a tattoo of a dragon riding up her right arm.

She was shorter than me by at least a foot, and I remember vaguely being 6'3'', so she was pretty short. She also had a pair of wolf ears, which were an immediate weird factor for me. Were those real?

"So!" She starts, "Uhm, sorry. I was kind of spacing out. I'm new to Beacon and I'm just, really really nervous. Uhm - I'm Sangria! Sangria Delilah! It's nice to meet you." She stuck out her hand to shake mine, and I reciprocated.

This girl was weirdly friendly, but I wasn't one to turn down a friendly face when I was so lost, "Uhm, hi. I'm Noire. Noire Vienna."

She retracted her hand after a rather enthusiastic shake, "Do you know where the orientation is? I thought it'd be in here, but this just seems to be some kind of really big classroom."

"Oh, really? Damn, I was about to make the same mistake as you, then."

"Oh." She frowns, "Want to walk around a bit till we find it?"

Well, I guess there could be worse things to do in this situation, "Sure, beats wandering around alone anyways."

So, we turned and headed out the double doors to the building and started walking, she took the lead and headed towards where some other students were walking, but at a slow pace. She seemed more interested in conversation, "So, that's an interesting weapon. What is it?"

"Uhm, just a Staff." I had been holding it in my hand, so I just held it up a bit, "It's got a gem on the top."

"So, it's not a gun or anything?" She seemed surprised, "That's interesting!"

"Uhm, no, it's just a staff. Why? Is your weapon a gun?"

She reached on her back and grabbed something that was folded up to at least the size of my forearm, but when she hit a button, it suddenly expanded. The full-sized weapon was some kind of Halberd, grand in size and, just from the looks of it, it was intimidating.

"It's a Halberd _and _a Shotgun."

Suddenly, the blade of the weapon folded downward, revealing the barrel of a gun.

I suddenly felt incredibly incompetent for some reason.

"Ah, is that common? Weapons like that?"

Sangria looked at me confused, "Of course it is, I think most Huntsman use weapons like this these days."

As if on queue, a strange red blue crossed my vision and stopped in front of Sangria, causing the two of us to stop walking, "Oh my god! That's a really cool weapon!"

The girl was about the same size as Sangria, but the similarities ended there. Her skin was pale, and her eyes were silver. Her hair was black at the root but red at the tips, and she wore a black outfit with a rede cape.

She was also holding a giant Scythe, that she took out about as quickly as she appeared here, "This is my weapon, Crescent Rose!"

Before I could adjust to the girl and her giant weapon, another voice called from behind us. Male and hurried in tone, "Ruby! Wait up! You just rushed off!"

I turned and saw a male with blonde hair wearing white armor, at his side was a sword and some kind of collapsed piece of equipment. He seemed out of breath, and stopped, panting in place, "Geeze, you left me behind!"

"Oh, sorry Jaune!" The girl that was apparently named Ruby apologized, "I saw someone with a cool weapon and had to check it out!"

Jaune huffed, "And mine isn't cool?" He mutters beneath his breath, drawing his sword and looking at it dejectedly.

Sangria started chatting up Ruby about their weapons, so I went over to Jaune. "Hey, you're not alone. I've got a staff. Apparently that's not very cool."

Jaune looked over my staff, "Hey, it's pretty cool. Especially compared to this." He shows off his sword, admittedly plain looking, and then took his shield off his belt, "And this." Which at the very least had some decal on it.

"Nah, no shame in something just being utility. At least you can stab things with yours. What am I supposed to do with this? Beat people over the head with it?"

"Looks like a dust crystal on the top, maybe you use that?"

"Dunno, maybe."

I turned and noticed the two girls were starting to walk off, "Well, let's not get left in the dust. My name's Noire by the way."

"Jaune Arc! Good to meet you."

For one reason or another, I felt like I'd made a friend in that moment.

…

…

Me and Jaune talked the rest of the way. I avoided any questions about myself, since I didn't really know anything _about _myself and focused on him.

I learned he came from a long line of Huntsman and that his weapons were inherited from his Great Grandfather, who fought in the Great War. The details of which I'm still sketchy on, as Ozpin wasn't exactly giving me an in-depth history lesson, but it clearly meant a good deal to him, so I humored him by pretending to be impressed.

Eventually we got to the _actual _auditorium and Jaune and I made our way towards Ruby and Sangria.

"Sweet, _two _nice quirky girls!" Jaune exclaims before we get into ear shot.

"You're really about girls, aren't you?"

"Well yeah, I mean, don't you want to form some kind of cute romance while we're here?"

"Uhm, I'll get back to you on that."

"You're kinda weird, aren't you?"

I huff, "Not weird. Just… I dunno. Me."

"Which is weird."

I roll my eyes, and we finally reach the two girls.

Ruby was currently cowering in some blonde girls arms from a girl with white hair and crystal blue eyes.

I would be lying if I said I didn't find her strikingly beautiful.

...But, based on her tone while she was waving a pamphlet in Ruby's face, I had to assume that beauty concealed some serious venom.

Jaune immediately slid up and tried to be smooth, "Hey Weiss! You know a lot about dust. Why not teach me more some time?"

Weiss rolled her eyes and proceeded to place a second pamphlet in his hands, "Educate _yourself. _You clearly need it, but not as much as Ms. Explosion here does."

"Explosion?"

Sangria must have heard my question, because she turns and addresses me, "Ruby apparently sneezed and caused a minor dust explosion out at the entrance."

"Oh, fun."

The blonde haired girl piped up, setting down Ruby, "I'd say! If my sister starts every school day with a _Bang _like that one, I think we're in for a good year!"

A smirk crossed my lips as everyone else groaned, "Yeah, I guess this year is gonna be a real _blast._"

The groans redoubled, "Oh no, there's two of them!" Ruby exclaims in dismay.

Yang in the meantime burst out laughing, looking to me, "Hey, I like you! Names Yang."

"Noire, good to meet you."

She was about to say something else, but Ozpin tapped on the mic at the front of the room and we all turned to face him.

Ozpin spoke directly into the mic and didn't bother to pan his gaze over the crowd. His tone was factual and professional as he began his speech.

"I'll… Keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and pursue new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But when I look among you… All I see is wasted energy. In need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this. But your time at this school will prove to you that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to _you _to take the first step."

Ozpin then walked off to the side, and Glynda took his place. "You will gather and sleep in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow you will begin your initiation. Be ready. You're dismissed."

Yang stared at them and fluffed her hair, then spoke, "Did he seem a little… Off?"

"Yeah…" Ruby notes, "Like he wasn't even there."

Jaune took the opportunity to slide towards Weiss, "I'm a natural blonde you know!"

She rolled her eyes and facepalmed, then walked off. Everyone began to file out towards the ballroom, so I followed.

….

It was already starting to get late when everyone rolled out their bedrolls and went to change into their night clothes, and I was left in my uniform, sitting against the wall with my staff resting against me.

While I was alone, I tried to channel some magic, discreetly because Ozpin seemed certain that I should keep it hidden from people's knowledge, at least at first.

I managed to summon small flames on my fingers, then put them out. They were unsteady and weak, so I kept repeating the exercise to try and get better control of them.

Eventually, however, I had to stop as someone approached me.

"Hello! You're still in uniform? Do you not have night clothes?"

It was a guy, and he was tall. At least 6'9'', maybe taller. His hair and eyes were both a bright blue, and he had a great big welcoming smile on his face. His night clothes consisted of a dark-blue T-shirt and a pair of pajama bottoms. He was also incredibly brawny, he looked like he could crush my skull between his pecs.

Okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but he was jacked, alright?

"Uhm, no. I… Don't have any. No bedroll either."

His smile turned into a frown, "That's not good! Want to borrow some of my clothes? They might be a bit big on you, but it can't be comfortable sleeping in a uniform!"

I was taken aback, "You'd do that? I mean, I'm just some guy. You don't even know my name."

He extends his hand, "My name is Cobalt! Cobalt Quartz. And you?"

I hesitantly extend my hand and shake his, "Noire Vienna, nice to meet you."

"See? Now you know my name! No qualms, right? Now you can borrow some clothes."

I had to admit this level of kindness wasn't exactly what I expected from this place, not that I had any expectations to begin with.

"Uhm, I suppose so."

"Come on then!"

…

So, Cobalt lent me some of his spare clothes and I changed in the bathroom before coming back, Cobalt told me I could just give back the clothes in the morning and it wouldn't be any trouble.

I took my uniform and folded it up, Cobalt unfortunately couldn't help in the bedroll department, so I figured I'd use the uniform as something of a makeshift pillow.

I approached a corner of the room and placed it down, and only after I had gotten ready to settle in did someone clear their throat from behind me.

Sitting on a chair with a small candle nearby was a girl with brown hair cut into a bob, and dark brown eyes. She wore a dark-pink nightgown and had olive-colored skin.

"I hope my reading won't interrupt your sleep." She spoke, her voice was rather proper. "I do say, night is the best time to read, but it would be wrong if my light kept you awake."

"Uhm, no, I should be fine." I didn't want to just leave it like that, so I sat on the ground and asked her, "So, excited for tomorrow?"

The girl hummed, "Excited is a word, but not the one I'd use. More… _Apprehensive._"

"Ah, so, you're nervous?"

"Indeed. What about you?"

"I don't know, really. Guess I'll have to take it as it comes."

"Fair enough, I'm more interested in figuring out who will be our teams. I don't believe they'll just let us pick. That would be a mistake I don't think Professor Ozpin is capable of."

"A mistake?"

"Yes, if he let them pick their friends, then some people would invariably be left out, and the team dynamics would be overall worse and much more unbalanced because of it. Especially as time went on."

I blinked a few times, "Wow, you're pretty smart aren't you?"

"Mmh, I prefer the term 'Observant.' But thank you." She stands up, stretching. I got to see that she was actually rather short, around 4'10'', "I'll see you around. I'll finish reading in my bedroll."

I waved her off and laid my head back against the makeshift pillow.

Soon, I was drifting off to an uncomfortable and dreamless sleep.

….

…

The morning was uneventful.

I didn't really talk to anyone and people mostly seemed to be forming their circles already.

I could have talked to Cobalt or Sangria, but I couldn't find them for some reason. In the meantime, Ruby was clinging to her sister for the morning and Jaune was still chasing Weiss.

I didn't get it, personally. Why was he attracted to someone who wouldn't even give him the time of day?

This red-head, Pyrrha, seemed more into him than Weiss from the five seconds I saw them interact than the entirety of Weiss' time knowing Jaune.

Either way, eventually we ended up at the initiation sight. Standing on platforms, with Ozpin and Glynda waiting for us all to get situation.

Ruby, Weiss, a girl I didn't recognize, and Yang were on the far right. With two people I didn't recognize, Jaune and Pyrrha coming after them.

Following that, was Cobalt, Sangria, Marigold, and me.

On my left was a… Strange group of people.

One's skull was shaped like that of a lizard, but beyond that he was entirely human. It freaked me out honestly. I had learned of 'Faunus' but I had never seen one like that before.

The others looked at least _somewhat _more normal. But only marginally.

There was a guy in a blue jacket that looked the most normal, there was a guy completely covered in the color red, even his hair and eyes were red!

Then there was a guy with green eyes, brown hair, and a dark green jacket on.

...Strange people, actually.

Ozpin cleared his throat, "Now that everyone is here, I will be explaining the initiation."

"You will journey through this forest and locate a relic, after which you will make your way back here to be deemed a success. While you're down there, you will meet the partner you're going to be spending the rest of your time here at Beacon with. The first person you lock eyes with when you land will be your partner. Now, any questions?"

As he asks that, Jaune raises his hand, "Uhm, excuse me sir. How are we getting down? Are you dropping us off or something?"

"No, you'll be falling."

Just then, off to my left, some of the others began getting launched, one at a time.

Jaune continued to question as people kept getting flung.

I was the furthest right out of the people I knew, so I was the first to get flung into the air without any warning.

Getting launched several hundred feet in the air wasn't something I was accustomed to, nor was it something I was ready for, but I tried my best to stabilize myself as I soared over the forest.

"Come on… I have magic, right?! Can't I fly?"

Try as I might, I couldn't summon the power to fly. Unfortunately.

I was coming down rather fast, and I could see the others all around me coming up with inventive landing strategies, or sticking the landing like proper Huntsman.

I, in the meantime, took out my staff and gripped it hard as I tried to figure out something to do.

"Come on, come on!"

I held the staff out in front of me and tried my hardest to will _something _to happen as I began to close in on a giant tree.

"Work damn it!"

Finally, right as I was about to faceplant into the tree, I felt myself slowing.

I had some kind of reddish field around me, and as I looked down, it began to lower me to the ground, my momentum from the launch lost.

As I landed, the field faded and I collapsed on the ground, "Ugh… That…"

...That really tired me out.

I guess I can't do fancy magic without getting tired, I'll need to be careful…

I'm sure if I tried blasting all of my problems away I'd die of exhaustion.

Guess there go my plans of being some badass who could destroy someone with a single glance who gets all the ladies.

Shame.

I barely had time to recover because I heard some rustling in the trees nearby. Using my staff as leverage, I steadied myself and went upright to see what was coming towards me.

I hoped it wasn't a Grimm.

In this shape, I'd be hard-pressed to fight, not that I even knew *how* to fight properly right now. You'd think Ozpin might have taught me before sending me on my way, or at least given some pointers, but here I was.

*...Snap!*

Oh geez, whatever that is, it's big!

I bet it's ugly, too!

Oh god…

The rustling of the grass and bushes soon revealed…

"Hello my friend!"

Cobalt, in all his giant glory.

Guess I got the 'big' part right.

Wait, that sounded wrong.

Whatever.

"Hey, Cobalt. Guess we're partners, huh?"

"Indeed! Are you alright? You look like you're tired."

"Just… A little bit. The whole 'launched into the stratosphere' thing took me by surprise."

Cobalt laughed, "I think it took everyone by surprise! Although I think the only person that had a tougher time than you with it was the blonde one I saw launch a bit after me. He looked like he was flailing!"

I didn't find it as funny as Cobalt did, but then again I seemed to be one of two people who didn't have some kind of landing strategy figured out.

"How did you land, anyway, Cobalt?"

Cobalt gestured for me to follow, so I did, using my staff as a cane for a minute before I was confident in my legs' ability to support me again.

He took me to a clearing in the forest, where there was a person-sized crater in the ground, with some of the ground around it cracked into crevices big enough to break your foot in.

"Gods, you just… Landed there?"

"Yep! I used my semblance!"

For a moment, Cobalt flexed, and his body was completely covered in shining blue armor.

It was a complete cover, glittering in blue, with a helm that covered his head shaped like a cross.

"Wow… That's amazing!"

"Thank you my friend! What's your semblance?"

Oh fuck.

"Uhm, well, see-"

Before I could try to explain it off, I heard a deep, guttural growling coming from the trees nearby. Yellow eyes glared in our direction, and Cobalt immediately shrugged off his greatsword from his back.

Cobalt's greatsword was a strange weapon.

It was very long, easily about as tall as me. For Cobalt, however, that wasn't much of a worry, he seemed strong enough to hold it. It had a gem placed in the middle of the cross-guard, it looked like some kind of blue gem… The kind, I couldn't place.

Was it Dust?

Cobalt's armor dissipated, strangely, "No need to waste that on such vermin! I'm sure I'll see your semblance soon enough, my friend. For now, let's get ready for a fight!"

Out of the brush came a large Ursa, the Grimm roared at us with monstrous ferocity, and my blue friend responded in kind with a bellowing war cry as he beat his chest for a moment and ran forward into the fray.

The Ursa responded by standing on its hind legs. It dwarved even Cobalt, but this didn't seem to dissuade him in the slightest as he used a fallen tree to catapult himself up.

Slashing his greatsword at the large Grimm, it roared in pain when the weapon connected, swinging upward and managing to connect with Cobalt, who grunted in pain as he was catapulted up.

Yet it didn't seem to be that big of an inconvenience to the giant, who backflipped in the air and drove his sword into the back of the beast.

It began to struggle, swatting around wildly while roaring.

"Noire! A little-" He grunted as the bear tried to throw him off, "A little assistance would be greatly appreciated!"

I suddenly remembered that I wasn't just a spectator to this fight, but a presumed participant.

"Uhm, right!"

I didn't know what to do, could I even hurt this thing?

I hadn't tried to do any sort of real magic yet!

Not combat magic at least.

I had to try at least!

I pointed my staff at the Ursa and tried to do something, anything to get some magic to work.

I felt a pulling deep in my chest, it felt like the start of a fire, kindling to burn.

Trying to draw on this, I closed my eyes and held my staff firmly with both my hands.

For one reason or another, I call out , "EXPLOSION!" as I feel a heat building in my staff.

A deafeningly loud explosion sounded out in front of me, forcing me to the ground from the force.

My ears were ringing even as the explosion subsided and I opened my eyes, trying to look around.

Sure enough, the trees around the Ursa had been blown back, and the Ursa itself was nowhere to be seen anymore.

Cobalt, however, emerged from a nearby bush, coughing, "By the brothers! Was that your semblance?"

"Uhm, yeah. Something like that." I managed, as I tried to stand, but found myself falling over again.

"...Not that it agrees with me very well right now."

Cobalt helped me stand as I used my staff for support, he then went over to the brush and grabbed his sword, putting it on his back.

"Well, come then. We should get moving, the artifacts can't be too far from here."

And so, off we went.

….

It took a lot of walking, and a few close encounters with some Grimm, but we eventually came to a clearing that had a large circular stone structure in the middle of it.

"This looks like it, hmm?" Cobalt wonders as we approach.

I had been using my staff as support for most of the walk here, but luckily I was beginning to feel better now and started to walk normally.

They were…

"Chess pieces?" I wonder aloud.

Standing on pedestals were three different types of chess pieces.

It looks like one set was missing, but there were three others.

A Knight piece, a Rook piece, and a Pawn piece.

"Which should we take?" I wonder.

"Hmm… I'll let you choose, my friend. I'm going to take a quick look around the area."

Cobalt wandered off out of sight for a moment.

I was honestly kind of worried about just being left alone in this place considering my lack of proper defensive skills, but I proceeded towards the pieces anyways.

Tentatively, I reached out to a grey pawn piece and took it, before placing it in my pocket.

It didn't take long before I heard some rustling from the trees nearby and turned quickly to the source, hoping to god it wasn't another Ursa.

Thankfully, my fears abated as two familiar girls stepped out of the brush.

Sangria and Marigold.

Sangria was in the same khaki outfit she wore yesterday, while Marigold was in a bright yellow dress and holding a Parasol on her shoulder.

"Hey, Cobalt's here!" Sangria waved at me, and I waved back.

"Hey Sangria. Made it here alright, I see, with your partner."

"Charmed to see you again, Noire." Marigold responded politely, "Yes, we landed rather close to each other, so we've partnered up as per the Headmaster's orders."

"I teamed up with a guy named Cobalt, heard of him?"

Marigold shook her head, but Sangria nodded, "That really big dude? Awesome! His weapon looked pretty sweet, if a little standard. Where is he?"

"He wandered off to check the perimeter while I chose our piece. Speaking of, I think you guys need to grab one of these."

"Obviously." Marigold noted softly, walking up to one and plucking a Pawn piece, "It seems pretty standard for an artifact. I suppose Ozpin didn't want to put _real _artifacts in the hands of trainees."

"Probably not." Sangria noted as she went to look at the Pawn piece, and Marigold held it out for her to check it.

I spotted two more girls appear over the horizon, on one of the hills. A mess of blonde hair followed by a black haired girl with a bow. Both of them were incredibly attractive, at least in my opinion, but I obviously wasn't going to pull a Jaune.

Besides, I recognized at least one of them was the sister of that Ruby girl.

Not that that was a dealbreaker or anything.

"Oh hey," The blonde one spoke, "People we don't know!" She waved as they headed towards our position.

"Hey." I raised my hand, "I remember you from yesterday. You're Ruby's sister right?"

"Yep! Name's Yang, and you're Mr. Funny-guy helping me prove the glory of puns!"

"Yeah, you had some real Yangers yesterday."

Blake, Marigold, and Sangria all facepalmed while Yang let off a short laugh, "That's the stuff! Anyway, what's with these chess piece?"

"Artifacts, pick your favorite." I responded, leaning against one of the empty pedestals.

Blake hummed, "I'll choose." She walks up to the Knight and takes it, "Any Grimm in the area?"

"Well-" Marigold started, only to be interrupted when she heard some screaming coming from above.

"HEEADDSSS UPPPPPP!" Ruby yelled as she fell from the sky.

Before anyone could react to try and help her, another body slammed into her and sent them into a tree.

"...Did your sister just fall from the sky?" Blake wondered with a tone of mild interest.

Before anyone could respond, an Ursa burst through the trees, roaring and flailing about, before falling down and revealing an orange-haired girl riding on top of it, "Awwh, I broke it!"

"Nora!" A male voice called out, emerging from behind the Ursa's leg, "Don't ever do that again…"

Marigold picked up, "Did she just ride in on an Ursa?"

The orange haired girl zipped over to the pedestals and picked up a castle with a fascinated look on her face, before promptly placing it on her head and promptly posing with it.

"I'm queen of the castle, I'm queen of the castle!"

"NORA!"

Giggling, the castle fell off, "Coming Ren!" Then, she skipped off.

Again, before anyone could reply, a girl burst through the brush, and hot on her tail was a giant Scorpion Grimm that seemed to have a vendetta against her for one specific reason or another.

"...Did she run here with a Grimm on her tail?"

Ruby appeared in view, seemingly having gotten off the tree, "Yang!"

"Ruby!"

"NORA!" The orange-haired girl appeared before the two girls could hug, making her presence known.

Her partner, Ren, soon ran over to join the small assembly of students.

Yang seemed to explode, almost literally, her eyes going red for a minute, "Okay, can everyone chill out for TWO SECONDS before something crazy happens again?!"

One…

Two…

_Ding!_

"Uhm, Yang…" Ruby pointed up.

The white-haired girl from yesterday was in the sky, holding on to a giant Raven Grimm.

"RUBY! YOU ABANDONED ME!"

"I told you to let go!"

Following that, I heard Cobalt yelling from the forest, "INCOMMINNNGG!"

He ran forward through the trees, with a giant Praying Mantis on his tail.

It was easily ten feet tall, and was primarily colored white, but had gold and black trimming, rounding off its nightmarish appearance with red bug eyes as it drove its sharp pincers into the ground where Cobalt had been before.

"Oh great, two things." Blake deadpanned.

"I think your partner is falling." Ren notes to Ruby rather casually.

And worse, I noticed Jaune looking to play hero by getting ready to dive in and save her.

Well, I guess I had to do something.

As Jaune grabbed Weiss and they both started to fall together, I raised my staff and tried to concentrate like I had when I was falling, but pointed it at the two of them.

Come on…

I felt like I had feathers in my stomach as a purple aura surrounded the two of them right as they were about to land on the ground, but then it faded and they fell anyway, with Jaune landing face first into the dirt and Weiss landing sitting on his back.

"My hero." Weiss muttered sarcastically, neither of them seeming aware of the purple aura that had momentarily appeared around them.

"My back!" Jaune groaned in pain.

...Guess my magic needed work if it was going to affect more than one person at once.

For some reason, I didn't feel too tired from that one. Maybe it was because it petered out so quickly?

Then, the red haired girl dove past the assembled group and landed on the ground.

"Great! The gang's all here." Yang exclaimed, "Now we can die together."

"Not if I can help it!" And Ruby raced forward, despite Yang's objections.

Similarly, Sangria readied her weapon, "I'm not gonna let Cobalt die to that thing!" And ran towards where he was.

"Wait, Sangria!" Marigold exclaimed, before sighing, "Reckless."

Several things happened at once.

The Raven Grimm shot several feathers out, pinning Ruby's cloak, and the Mantis Grimm made contact with the gem on Cobalt's sword, causing a large white explosion.

When it cleared, the Mantis was encased in ice.

Meanwhile, the white haired girl, Weiss I think was her name? Rushed forward and pulled a similar move, freezing the scorpion and saying something to Ruby I couldn't make out.

Afterwards, everyone assembled back at the front, and I moved from my position behind the group sitting on a pedestal to join them.

"Guys! That thing is circling back again." Jaune pointed to the large Raven screeching overhead, "What are we gonna do?"

"Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us." Weiss gestured to the remaining pieces.

"She's right. Our objective is to get the artifacts and make it back to the cliff. There's no sense in fighting these things!" Ruby picked up.

"Run and live. That's an idea I can get behind!" Jaune commented.

"It is not a glorious action, but…" Cobalt sighed, "Sometimes it _is _better to retreat. We should move!"

The Scorpion, as if on cue, began to break from its ice, and the Mantis began to form cracks in the block of ice it was in.

"How about we leave now?" I note.

"Good idea!" Jaune exclaims.

And so, we all began to run.

…

We kept running, and soon arrived at the ruins of what must have been some kind of human outpost against the Grimm in ages past.

The Raven perched on the very top of the ruined watchtower and screamed murder at the top of its lungs.

"Well, that's inconvenient." Yang noted to Ruby while we were all hiding behind some ruins.

And to punctuate this inconvenience, the scorpion and Mantis burst through the trees, roaring at us.

"And so is that." I mutter.

"Oh man, run!" Jaune exclaims, and so we do, running like bats out of hell.

I didn't pay attention as Nora began to shoot at the Raven and we all ran for the bridge, but before I could get to it, the Mantis stuck one of its claws in front of me, stopping me a few feet from the fridge as I skinned to a halt.

"Uhm, guys! Problem!"

Sangria was the first to come to my aid, lunging forward and stabbing at the mantis' claw with her pike, before blasting it with the shotgun part and sending it reeling back.

Following up was Cobalt and Marigold.

Cobalt leapt in and stabbed at the exoskeleton, prying off a piece of it with his sword and causing the creature to scream out in pain.

Marigold stopped and pointed her Parasol like a rifle, shooting at the creature.

I cast my glance off to where the others were and saw that both other groups were battling the other two Grimm.

It was us against this Mantis.

And it was with that I realized I was still in between the Mantis two arms.

It looked at me and screeched an unholy screech that sent chills down my spine.

Its mouth was open, it looked like it wanted to eat me, so I did the only logical thing.

_WHACK!_

I smashed it with the wood part of my staff.

That seemed to daze it for a split second, so I fled back before it reoriented itself.

"Think it's giving?!" Sangria asked.

Then the creature smacked her and sent her flying back.

"Guess not!" Cobalt picked up, leaping on the creatures back and hacking at its exoskeleton, "It's hard to pierce this beast's armor!"

Sangria came back with a vengeance, she took out a red vial and tossed it on the creature.

It crashed against it and it covered it.

It looked like… Blood?

Said blood suddenly caught on fire, and the creature began to scream in pain and confusion, swinging wildly.

Marigold unfolded her Parisol and began to spin in. From the parasol, air began to coalesce and form a tornado that lifted the creature in the air, Cobalt proceeding to jump off before it got too high in the air.

"Noire!" Cobalt called to me.

I guess he wanted me to use my 'semblance!'

I didn't know if I could channel the same power, but I tried.

As I called the energy forth from my body, I felt myself getting incredibly exhausted.

I didn't know if I had some kind of upper limit, but I was clearly pushing myself for this.

No turning back now!

Rather than fire, a burst of lightning shot from the gem on my staff and blindsided the Mantis, causing it to shoot off into the giant ravine near us.

As it started to fly off, the others began to cheer.

I, however, felt the world fading.

And soon, I collapsed onto the ground.

….

_It was cold. Too cold._

_The land around me was dead, bitter snow covering once beautiful flowers._

_She stared down at me from her perch, glaring at me. I was the bane of her existence._

"_Why did you… Do this?" I muttered._

"_For the future."_

"_What about me?! The others?!"_

"_...You were never going to be worthy."_

_Before I could respond, a loud crack of thunder landed in front of us both._

"Hey, Noire, wake up!"

I blinked blearily, standing over me was… Well, everyone.

Everyone I had been with during initiation was surrounding me, "Oh, so you are alive. Good!" Yang exclaimed. "What happened?"

"Can't… Can't use semblance without getting too tired." I lied as best I could.

"Shame."

Cobalt was staring at me rather weirdly, but said nothing.

"Well at least you're not dead." Weiss noted, as everyone began to back away to give me space, and Sangria helped me stand.

I leaned on my staff, "Yeah. Not dead. That's good. Thanks Snowball."

"_Snowball?" _She squinted at me, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well. You froze the Scorpion with your dust, your hair is white, and I don't know your name. So, Snowball."

"My name's Weiss. Weiss _Schnee." _

"Cool. Weiss Knee."

"SCHNEE! You know, Schnee Dust Company?"

"Uhm, no clue who they are."

"R-Really?" This seemed to take Weiss by surprise.

And everyone else.

"How do you not know them?" Yang wondered, "They're pretty huge."

"Yeah, it's odd. Where are you from?" Marigold asked.

"Uhm, somewhere. We should get going, huh?"

"Right!" Ruby notes, "The Headmaster wants us back for the ceremony where we get our teams."

And so, I was saved indirectly by Ozpin.

….

My group ended up being last.

The first group grabbed the black Bishop pieces and was named team Cardinal.

Second up was Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren. They formed JNPR.

Then came Ruby, Weiss, Yang, and Blake. RWBY was formed.

Finally, Cobalt, Marigold, Sangria, and myself walked up.

"Cobalt Quartz, Marigold Magnolia, Sangria Delilah, Noire Vienna."

"You all claimed the grey Pawn pieces. Together, you will form team Crimson. CMSN. With Cobalt as your leader. Congratulations."

Ozpin gave me a look and, as we were walking off stage, he whispered to me, "I'll talk to you more later."

...Comforting. Truly.

….

That night, we had been assigned a room. We were in the same hallway as RWBY and JNPR, which I wasn't sure if I was meant to find comforting or not.

As we were all sitting on our beds, Cobalt spoke, "So! It's good to be working with you three. I hope I won't disappoint you as team leader."

"Well, you seem fairly stalwart, I trust Ozpin's decision." Marigold noted, back in her night clothes.

"Yep!" Sangria was wearing footie pajamas. I wasn't sure how to feel about that. "After how you went at that Mantis, I'm more than happy to put my trust in you."

"Same here. You'll make a good partner too."

"And you as well, Noire! Although, I would like to talk to you in private for a moment, if you would."

Oh boy.

"Sure." I responded, going to stand.

I had ended up borrowing some of Cobalt's night clothes again, which made me wonder if it was about that or something else.

We ended up in the hallway, and he spoke, "What was with the lightning, my friend? Your semblance is explosions, isn't it?"

Fuck.

"Uhm- Well, it's actually more like… Elemental channeling? If I use my staff, I can use elements."

It may not be the most solid explanation, but it had to work.

"Hmm… Very well! I was simply curious, and I don't want any secrets between the team, alright? Nothing to worry about."

"Right! Nothing to worry about."

Cobalt went back inside, and I told him I was going to clear my head and take a short walk down the hall, which he accepted as truth.

I wasn't entirely lying, although I found myself going towards the balcony offered in the hallway and leaning against it, staring out at the empty courtyard of the school with a heavy sigh. The night air was chilly, but not cold enough to warrant discomfort.

I heard some footsteps behind me, and turned to look at who was coming my way.

It was Blake, also dressed in her night clothes, but she stopped when she saw me, "Sorry I- Didn't see you."

"It's fine. Introspective isolation loves company… Right?"

"Kind of the opposite of isolation, isn't it?" She ponders as she comes to the balcony anyway.

"...You're right. Oh well."

Silence. Awkward silence.

"...You're Blake, right?"

"Right. You're Noire?"

"Right. Why'd you come out here?"

"Get away from my teammates for a moment. Too loud. You?"

"...Kind of the same. Wanted to clear my head."

More silence.

This time it wasn't really awkward, we just both kind of stared out at the courtyard.

Blake was the one to break the silence this time. "...Your team killed the Mantis, right? And you passed out."

I flushed in embarrassment, "R-Right. The others did a lot more than I did, truth be told."

"You landed the final blow."

"I also passed out after that. If we were in the middle of real combat, I'd be dead."

"...Maybe. But we're still students. You have time."

Sighing, I nodded, "Maybe. You did good with the Raven thing. What did Ozpin call it? Nevermore?"

"A Nevermore. And thank you. It was mostly Ruby and Weiss."

"...Guess we're both not exactly in the spotlight."

"I don't think that's a bad thing."

Mulling it over, I nodded, "I'm inclined to agree with you."

"Blaaakee!" Ruby's voice called from inside the building, "Where are you?"

Blake sighed, "Time to go, I guess." She stands up, "Good talk."

"Right, good talk."

She left, and a few minutes later, I did to.

Once I slipped back into the team's dorm, I found the others already asleep, and soon, I found myself joining them.

* * *

A/N: Thank you for reading the first chapter of Into Remnant! I hope you enjoyed. Reviews are always welcome, criticism helps me improve after all.


	2. Simple Souls

_Thought this was dead? Guess again!_

* * *

The next morning began in earnest with a trumpet blaring a military tune to gently jolt me out of bed.

"Huh- Wha?!" I flailed and fell out of bed.

"Rise and shine my friends! It's time for our morning to begin! We have much to do before our first day of classes." Cobalt declared, already dressed in his school uniform.

"Was the trumpet necessary?" Marigold complains as she sits up. Her short, normally straight hair, puffed up around her in a rather comical fashion, "It's barely dawn."

"The early bird gets the worm!" Sangria commented, also already awake and dressed somehow.

I guess it was me and Marigold that were the odd-ones out here.

Cobalt declared, "Now rise and shine! They serve breakfast, and I'm in the mood for a stack of pancakes!"

Food did sound good, it occured to me I hadn't eaten since…

Wait, I hadn't eaten.

My stomach growled at this realization.

"Uh, yeah. That sounds good."

Cobalt smirked, and Sangria declared, "I'll help you with your hair Marigold!"

"That's really not necessary."

"Come on, it'll be fun! Girl time!"

"I don't think you can tame my hair."

"Worth a shot!"

"...Fine, I suppose I have nothing to lose."

Sangria sat down on Marigolds bed and brandished some hair supplies, while I got up and went to get changed in the bathroom and to prepare myself for the day.

I wasn't sure how exactly I knew that I needed to brush my teeth and take a shower while not recalling anything about my life prior to yesterday… It was very strange. I'd need to ask Ozpin about it, when I saw him again.

He did say he wanted to see me 'later' anyway. Which, later could mean today.

After I gathered up my uniform and entered the shower I let the hot water hit me while I considered my next move.

Did I even have a next move?

It seemed to me like Ozpin just wanted me to go to school here and, what did he say? 'Blend in?'

I wasn't sure how I was going to hide my magic from my team, considering that it felt like Cobalt was already watching me closely and I couldn't explain away everything I did as my 'semblance' when my magic is already known to me to be so much more varied than that.

These thoughts plagued me as I left the shower, got dressed, brushed my teeth, and joined the others.

Marigold had to take a shower next after she fended off Sangria by telling her it was wise to let her clean herself first before they tried to tame her hair.

After a bit of waiting around, soon we were all present and accounted for, and Cobalt marched us off to the mess hall.

I think I saw heaven once I entered that building.

The sheer amount of food, _good _food that was available was crazy to me. I don't know why, but I expected the food to be some kind of horrid gruel, but it was so much better than that.

Cobalt got his mountain of pancakes drowned in syrup, while I got some eggs, bacon, and toast. Sangria got an equally sizable mound of pancakes while Marigold settled on a bowl of cereal.

When we sat down, I noted team RWBY and JNPR at the same table as us. It was a massive table, so we couldn't exactly communicate, but greetings were shared and everyone seemed to be having a good morning.

Well, for a whole ten minutes.

I caught sight of something going on at another table, it looked like one of the other first year teams I saw at the ceremony were harassing this girl with bunny ears.

"Hey, what's the deal with that?" I asked Marigold, who was seated next to me.

"Hmm? Oh my." She notes, "Faunus never did have it easy… Even here. I bet that poor girl just wants to be left alone."

"What?" Sangria turned around, having had her back facing it, and for once the bright girl didn't look so cheery, "Why is nobody doing anything? We have to step up!"

Cobalt, once he saw what was going on, gained a deep frown on his face, "I agree."

I wasn't so enthusiastic about playing hero myself…

But I guess my breakfast could wait.

Cobalt stood up dramatically and the rest of us joined him, the others didn't seem intent on going around the table as they just leapt over. I, however, preferred to have my feet on the ground, and just walked around.

"Stop right there, criminal scum!" Cobalt declared to what looked to be the leader of the other group, "Cease your heartless bullying of others for their physical differences!"

"Get a load of this guy. What are you, from the middle ages?" One of the lesser thugs asked, but he cowered once Cobalt glared at him.

Sangria got in next, her short stature didn't stop her from being intimidating as she wagged her finger at the leader, "You have some nerve picking on someone like that! Who do you think you are?!"

The leader raised his hands in a 'calm down' gesture, "Woah woah, easy there, Spice and Mint. This here is just our good friend uh- What's your name?"

"V-Velvet."

"Velvet!"

Marigold huffed, "You must think us incredibly stupid if you think _that _trick could pull the wool over our eyes."

Cobalt gestured towards the door, "Leave and don't let us catch you doing this again!"

Cardin looked pissed, and like he wanted to say or do something, but he looked past Cobalt and frowned, "Fine, come on guys."

I looked to where he looked and saw team RWBY looking at the exchange, along with just about the rest of the mess hall.

Great, we gave people a show with their breakfast.

Cardin and his gang went to leave.

I felt like I hadn't done enough to help the situation, so I gently twitched my hand and tried to channel some of the magic I had used before to try and stop Weiss and Jaune from falling, but focused entirely on Cardin's foot.

It worked, he tripped and fell face first into some poor sap's cereal

The hall rumbled with bemused chuckles and whispering.

Cardin got up, red faced, and huffed out quickly, trying to save his dignity.

"Classic." I muttered to myself.

"What?" Marigold asks.

"Nothing."

Velvet stood up, "T-Thank you. For stepping in, I mean."

Sangria snorted, "Don't worry, girl! As if we were gonna let some jerk bully someone who ain't got anyone to stand up for them."

Velvet smiled softly, "I-I usually do, but the rest of my team decided to sleep in today… I didn't think it'd be a problem."

"Well, next time you can eat with us!" Cobalt declares with his usual bravado.

"T-Thank you, all of you. Now I really should be going… Coco won't be happy when she hears about this, but I'll tell her about you guys… My team doesn't forget their friends.

With that, Velvet scurries off out of the lunchroom, and we were free to return to our food.

Around thirty minutes later, the bell rang that signaled the start of class.

….

With the events of lunch behind us, classes started and most of them rolled by without incident.

There were a mixture of 'normal' classes, like English, but also classes like combat training, and the one I was in now, Grimm Studies.

This was one of the classes where we didn't get to sit as a team, and I ended up sitting next to Weiss.

I didn't know much about her, and she seemed rather… Prissy, and know-it-all, even if she was kind of cute.

But there were a lot of cute girls here, so that wasn't exactly something special.

Although, I think she caught my attention the most when answering a question Port posed to us.

"Now, as I've been going over, Grimm are unintelligent creatures that tend to act in pack mentality, even those that gain intelligence generally take years to get there. However, there is one Grimm in myth that is said to have gone beyond that, and was born intelligent. Which one was that?"

A naturally intelligent Grimm? That was news to me. But so was 90% of the stuff Port talked about.

Weiss was the one whose hand went up, and Port pointed to her, "Yes, Ms. Schnee?"

"You're referring to the Emperor! He's one of the most mythical Grimm, and it's been debated for centuries if he even exists. They say he was able to grow to the size of a mountain and wielded a black greatsword the size of Beacon. It's said if he's sighted, it's a harbinger of much worse things to come, because Grimm are attracted to his powerful aura.."

At the conclusion of her explanation, I noticed Sangria's ears fold and she hid herself by burying her head in her arms, Marigold, who managed to get a seat next to her, looking inquisitively at her, and a bit worried.

For some reason her words stirred… Something in my head.

Images of a black greathelm with burning red eyes of hatred and the wet sounds of sword against flesh sent a chill down my spine.

Such anxiety that I could hear my heart beating out of my chest, it caused me to close my eyes and focus on my breathing.

I tuned out the world around me…

At least, until a voice snapped me back to reality.

"Uhm, are you okay Noire?"

It was Weiss, I opened my eyes and looked at her, "Uhm, yeah."

"You sure? You look kind of hot…"

"Thanks, that's a real self-esteem boost."

Weiss' face lit up red, "T-That's not what I meant! I meant, you're sweating."

"Yeah, a little bit…"

I _was_ sweating but I didn't know why.

"That… Emperor you mentioned. Where'd you learn about him?"

Weiss crossed her arms and gained a proud smirk on her face, "I was tutored by some of the best Huntsman and Grimm Experts money could buy! I would go as far as to say I know more about Grimm than anyone in this room, except maybe Port."

Port, in the meantime, had been talking about the values of a Huntsman, "...Who among you believes you embody all of these traits?"

Weiss snapped to attention so fast I felt like I got whiplash, putting her hand up, "I do sir!"

"Well then, Ms. Schnee. Let's find out! Step forward, and face your opponent."

"Good luck." Was all I had time to say as Weiss left her seat and went to await her opponent.

Meanwhile, her team decided to try to cheer her on.

"You can do it Weiss!" Yang declares.

"Fight well!" Blake follows up, waving a small RWBY flag.

How the hell did she get that?

"Yeah Weiss! Represent Teaaammm RWBY!"

"Ruby! I'm trying to focus!" Weiss snapped. It seems she wasn't on the best of terms with Ruby, or the rest of her team for that matter.

Port took up a large axe, "Now! Let the trial begin!" And with a mighty swing, he freed a caged Grimm.

Flipping through my book, it seemed that this Grimm was known as a Boarbatusk. A Boar-like creature with large tusks and a passion for charging at its opponents.

Good thing that wasn't me down there. I didn't do well in close quarters. At least, not yet.

Weiss went to swing as the creature charged, her sword bounced off the creature's tusk.

Why, I wonder, would she swing with a rapier like that? She must have been caught off guard.

"Weren't expecting THAT now were you?" Port ponders, commentating on Weiss' actions throughout the fight.

The creature charged again, and Weiss stabbed forward! However, it interlocked itself within the creature's large tusks.

"You can do it Weiss!" Ruby cheers on, causing Weiss to look away. This distraction sent her sword into the air!

"Oho! What will you do without your weapon?" Port wondered as Weiss was knocked back a few feet by the creature.

Weiss sprinted and leapt for her weapon, grabbing it in just the nick of time as the creature turned to charge at her again.

I wasn't too worried, I knew Port wouldn't let one of his students get gored during class. Right?

"Weiss! Go for its belly!" Ruby directed, "There's no armor undern-"

"_**Stop telling me what to do!"**_ Weiss shouted, and Ruby proceeded to gain the look of a kicked puppy.

Harsh.

Weiss proceeded to use her semblance to launch up the Boar, sending it onto its back after it stepped on a Glyph, then she jumped up onto another one and launched herself onto the Boar's belly, piercing it and killing the creature.

"Bravo! Bravo! It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntsman in training! That's all we have time for today. Don't forget to cover the assigned readings! You are dismissed."

Weiss walked away, shooting a glare at Ruby and co, while I leaned back in my chair.

I felt a poke on my back, and looked back. Cobalt was sitting behind me, but had been so rapt in attention to the class that her didn't really speak to me until now.

"She seems to be awfully impolite."

"...Yeah, I guess."

"I wonder why? She does not strike me as being of Cardin's ilk. Something must be wrong."

"I dunno."

"Hopefully their team figures it out! That's a huge rift to have, and it could mean death in real combat!"

I chewed on my lip, trying not to imagine such a scene, "Yeah…"

….

Having finished classes for the day, Cobalt had decided that we should all go train together. Good old combat training, he said, would let us get familiar with our fighting styles.

I was dreading having to hide my magic in that, but luckily I didn't have to worry.

I passed Ruby, who waved to me, and I returned it. "Hey. You okay?" I wondered, "I saw how you looked after Weiss snapped at you."

"Yeah… I talked to Professor Ozpin, he made me feel better. Well… A bit better."

A new voice joined in.

"Indeed."

We both turned, and spotted the Professor, "Noire, mind coming with me? We need to talk as well."

"Oh, well alright. I'll see you later Ruby."

We said our goodbyes, and I followed Ozpin up to his office.

Once we got there, we were greeted by Glynda, who set a cup of coffee on Ozpin's desk.

"Thank you Glynda."

I had to wonder, "Does she…?"

"Yes. I informed her of your… Innate prowess."

Ozpin took a seat behind his desk, Glynda standing next to it, and I was beckoned to seat myself in one of the chairs I had been in before.

"Now, have you discovered anything about your magic since we last spoke?"

"Since after you launched me into a Grimm infested forest? Yes. It's tiring to use spells for too long. I passed out after using my magic on the Mantis grimm, and I'm still struggling to control and understand it."

"As expected." Ozpin notes, "Well. You are at a disadvantage to Huntsman like your team. They have books upon books, teachers upon teachers, to train them to use their power. You… Have me."

"You? How do you know so much about magic, anyway?"

"...Someday, I'll tell you everything. But we don't have that liberty right now, Noire. You just need to know that I can direct you on how to better train yourself, and I can tell you about the true potential of your magic. Which is why we're here today."

"Well… Where do we start?"

"I'll start by telling you this: Magic is extremely powerful, but it is also extremely dangerous. If you try to do too much with it at once, you can die, and those around you can die. However, if you master it, you will be a true force for good in Remnant. The likes of which haven't been seen in thousands of years. You will be wanted for your magic by good and evil alike. Just being alive makes you a target, and there are those that would prefer that, if you don't join them, you die. You are destined to be the most wanted man on Remnant. Do you understand this?"

"I...I guess I have too, don't I?"

"Indeed. Now, we need to discuss the practical ways to hone your magical capabilities, so you can become better at using it without tiring yourself. Any questions, firstly?"

"Yes… One of my teammates seems to be a bit skeptical of me, what am I going to do to hide my power from them?"

"We can't risk people finding out about you this early on, but worry not. I'm going to be teaching you to use your staff for combat in a way that doesn't need you to use your magic."

That would help, at least a little bit.

"Now, let's begin…"

What followed was a good two hours of training. The first portion revolved around me attempting to lift small objects with my magic, lighting and extinguishing small candles, and otherwise attempting to better control everything.

The second portion was a bit more hands on.

Ozpin retrieved my staff from my locker and had Glynda spar with me while he commentated and taught me how I was supposed to handle myself.

The training involved me using the staff as a Bo-Staff, attempting to sweep out Glynda from her feet, holding the staff with both hands and making me try these fancy flips and stuff.

I… Sucked at it.

As I fell to the ground for the tenth time, Ozpin hums. "I'm thinking maybe you need… A better weapon for yourself."

Glynda, who hadn't even broken a sweat, put her weapon away, "Face it Ozpin, he's just not good with a staff like that. Maybe something at a range?"

"Hmm. He still needs to be able to channel his magic through the weapon, and I don't think he wants to carry around a staff if he'd need to be switching weapons all the time."

"I have an idea." Ozpin grabs a pen and paper and begins to jot things down, "Noire. I want you to take this paper to Ms. Rose, she's a weapon craftswoman of great prowess despite her age. I'm sure she'll ask for payment of some kind, but I think you can figure that out. Cookies, maybe? She's a fan of those."

As I finally found the strength to stand and dust myself off, Ozpin handed me a piece of paper that I promptly glanced at.

It requested a weapon that was capable of supporting long-range capabilities and channeling 'dust attacks' which I'm assuming Ozpin was doing for my magic's sake. It seemed simple and had no directions beyond that.

"Alright, I'll give this to Ruby."

"Their dorm isn't far from your team's, as I'm sure you know. You should get going now, or else by the time you're done with Ruby, you might miss dinner."

….

After that, I left and found myself making my way to team RWBY's dorm.

The rest of my team seemed to be out and about still, I thought I saw Sangria milling about, but I couldn't verify that.

I had a mission, first off.

I reached RWBY's door and knocked on it, waiting for a response.

Weiss was the one who opened the door, and her face formed into something of a pout when she saw me. Why? I didn't know. "What are you doing here?" She wondered.

"Sorry, is Ruby in? I need to talk to her."

Weiss seemed conflicted at the mention of Ruby, but it wasn't the pure annoyance I expected, "Why do you need to talk to her? What? Asking her on a date?"

I could feel my face heating up in indignation, "Nonsense! She's like three years younger than me! No, Professor Ozpin told me she's a great weaponsmith, and I should commission her to make me a new weapon. Why would you assume I wanted to date her?"

"Hmph, cause everyone seems absolutely infatuated with her lately. Except Jaune, but he just… Ugh. I don't need to explain it to you, it's annoying."

I could tell Weiss was having a rough day. Even based on what I knew about her, this wasn't exactly normal behavior. She was cocky and kind of prissy, sure, but right now she just seemed kinda… Defeated.

"Do you need to talk to someone? You seem… Off."

Weiss was being cagey, and she looked away, "No, why would I need to talk to anyone? I'm fine."

"I don't really believe that."

I knew that Weiss was going to be like this, she didn't seem like the type to just spill her problems. But I didn't want to leave her like this, when she was having difficulties with her team. It just didn't seem right.

So, I gained an idea.

"...You're really smart, especially with Grimm, right?"

Weiss looked at me, "I am. You know I've been tutored well."

"Maybe you could help me study a bit? If you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly the smartest when it comes to Grimm."

Weiss seemed intrigued, perhaps the appeal to her ego was working? "Hmm… Alright. When?"

"I don't really have anything to do right now."

"...Alright, come in. I've got all my books in here."

I stepped into Team RWBY's dorm, and noted the haphazard bunk beds, desk, and other assorted things. It had a very personalized look to it.

"This is an… Interesting room."

"Ruby wanted bunk beds, and I was outvoted on it. It's… Not that bad."

I wasn't sure if Weiss was being genuine in admitting it wasn't bad, or if she was just trying to accept her defeat gracefully.

She ended up pulling up another chair to the desk, and we sat there with one of her Grimm textbooks.

While we were studying, I occasionally tried to tease out information on what was bothering her.

I got it in bits and pieces, stuff about Ruby being childish and some resigned remarks that she wasn't much better according to the professors.

When we were actually focusing on the Grimm, she wasn't entirely there, her mind seemed to be a thousand leagues away.

Eventually she sighed in defeat and face planted on the book.

"Ugh, I'm sorry Noire. I just… I have a lot to think about."

"Hey, it's alright."

Truth be told I was more interested in figuring out what her problem was than studying Grimm anyway.

Weiss sighed, "How about we pick this up later? I… Have a lot of thinking to do."

"That's fine, I need to go find Ruby anyway. Any idea where she might be?"

"Try the arena, she likes to train there."

"Great, thank you."

"...You too."

I raised an eyebrow, before nodding softly and getting up, leaving.

[...]

I found Ruby flying around the Arena.

Literally.

She was moving so fast that all that I saw was a bunch of rose petals fluttering around the arena as she hit various dummy targets.

I had to marvel at her speed, grace, and ability to hit things in the face.

"Hey, Ruby! Slow down a moment will you?"

It took a second but she eventually stopped in front of me, using her massive Scythe as a means of stopping her propulsion.

"What's up, Noire?"

She seemed bothered too, but not as visibly as Weiss. Strange.

"I heard you're a talented weaponsmith, am I right?"

"Yep! I made Crescent Rose here myself, she's my baby."

Crescent Rose was a marvel of a weapon, massive and intricate, anyone on the receiving end of this weapon would either end up sliced in half or with a load of broken bones.

"Right, do you think you could make a weapon for me?"

"For you? You want me… To make you a weapon?" Ruby seemed cautious, but curious.

"Uhm… Yes. Something that fits this role." I handed her the piece of paper.

Ruby's eyes lit up after inspecting the paper for a minute.

"Of course! This will be great! I'll make you the best weapon anyone has ever seen, except for my dear Crescent Rose of course."

"Great! I'll compensate you somehow, I'm not sure how, I'll figure something out."

"It's a deal!" Ruby thrusts her hand out in a grand gesture and I had little recourse but to shake it.

"Fantastic! I'll have it ready in a few days!"

"Really, that quickly?"

"Yep! Trust me, I know how to make a weapon."

"Alright, I trust you."

I looked up at the sky and saw the sun was starting to set, "Well, I should get going. It's getting late."

"Same here! Here, let me give you my scroll info."

"Huh? Oh. Okay."

...I didn't have one, but I'd take her info and ask Ozpin about getting one later.

"Alright, I'll be in touch."

"Great, see ya!"

[...]

After my shower and change into some more borrowed clothes, I saw Sangria sitting on her bed with a distant look on her face.

"Sangria, what's wrong?"

She snaps back to reality, "Oh, Noire… It's nothing."

"You know I don't believe that." I walk over and sit on the side of her bed, "Come on. We're teammates."

She looks off in the distance and sighs, "...The Emperor. You remember?"

"The Grimm? Yeah."

"...When I was a little girl… He attacked my village."

Blinking in surprise, I furrowed my brow, "Really?"

"Yes… It was awful. He killed everyone who stood against him, and anyone who tried to surrender was turned into these… Twisted monsters… My whole family died. He spared me, and only me… Why, I never found out…"

Sangria was weeping, and I had nothing else to do but hug her. "Hey, it's alright… It's in the past."

She was silent for a second, before hugging me back, "...M-Maybe… That day was why I became a huntress. So maybe one day I'd be strong enough to kill him for what he did."

"...If it means anything, I'll help you when that day comes."

"Y-You will?"

"Yeah… What else are teammates for? We're family now. Isn't that what they say?"

She let me go and looked at me before smiling, "...You're right. Thank you."

"No problem. Now get some sleep, hmm? There's more training to do tomorrow."

Shortly after that, she was asleep, and I was in bed as well. Cobalt and Marigold found their way in after an hour or so, and headed to sleep as well, thankfully without any headaches.


End file.
